Majority leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has asked the minority to be principled in their opposition.
According to him, they have decided to deceive Ghanaians with deliberate lies with respect to the upcoming referendum.
Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' program, he explained that they have agreed to amend certain provisions of the constitution which allows only the President to appoint MMDCE’s.
However, Ghanaians need to vote for a 'yes' for the referendum before we can even amend certain entrenched clauses of the constitution for the election of MMDCE’s.
"So I am very much surprised to hear the Minority say they will vote a 'no' for the referendum, because the constitution gives the President power to fire an MMDCE who has been elected, but we need to vote for a 'yes' before parliament will be able to amend this part of the constitution which we have agreed with them in parliament," he added.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, argued that in principle, the Minority NDC is not against the elections of MMDCEs, but the amendment of the Constitution to allow for the election of the MMDCEs must be tied simultaneously with the amendment of Article 243 (3) and Article 248 (1) and (2).
According to him, Article 248 (1) which says “a candidate seeking election to a District Assembly or any lower local government unit shall present himself to the electorate as an individual, and shall not use any symbol associated with any political party; and Article 248 (2) which says, “a political party shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to or in any way campaign for or against a candidate seeking election to a District Assembly or any lower local government’ must as well be amended to give proper meaning to the amendment of Article 243 (1) which Parliament is seeking to amend first."
The Minority Leader said all the reservations expressed by the Minority must be critically considered because the majority of NPP does not have an overwhelming number to get two-thirds votes in Parliament to have that amendment go through.
Watch interview below
Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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